Hearing Steward Xu's words, Zhou Chong couldn't help but have a headache, people live in the world, they are always eating and drinking, and now the Zhou family doesn't have any income, and the family really can't take out anything valuable. But there are still three major and two small families to support in the family, among which Aunt Wang is a woman, Steward Zhou is old, not to mention Bang'er and Duo'er, so now the responsibility of supporting the family falls on Zhou Chong's body.

"How much food is there at home now, can it last this year?" Zhou Zhong suddenly asked. As a descendant, Zhou Zhong thinks that it is still very easy for him to make something to make money, but now that it is winter, it is difficult to find a way to make money in the cold, so he wants to wait until next spring.

"Young master, you don't know, there was still some food in the house, but when the people were dismissed, some people's hands and feet were not clean, and almost all the food in the house was stolen, fortunately, the old slave still had some savings in his hands, so he was able to support it until now, but now the old slave has not bought much rice and grain, even if it is a meal of porridge, I am afraid it will not last this month!" Steward Xu said with a bitter face at this time, if the situation was not so urgent, he would not have rushed to find Zhou Zhong to find a way.

"Can't make it this month?" Zhou Zhong was a little shocked, and at the same time, he was also a little moved in his heart, he didn't expect that the food he ate these days had always been bought by Steward Xu with his own private money. In addition, it is already the middle of October, and there are only ten days of food left in the family, and they can only drink porridge, which is undoubtedly a big bad news for Zhou Chong, who has no meat every day, and there are still two months before the New Year, where will the food for the family come from?

"Okay, I know about this matter, don't tell my aunt for the time being, I'll find a way!" Zhou Zhong sighed and said, although he still has more than four hundred taels of silver in his hand, of which ninety taels are Aunt Wang's private money, but these money are used to repay debts, and Zhou Chong has promised that he will send it over tomorrow, so it must not be moved, it seems that his earning plan must be advanced.

Hearing Zhou Chong's words, Steward Xu glanced at him with some concern, after all, Zhou Chong was watched by him to grow up, and he also knew that he had no other skills except for studying, although since the change in the family, his young master seemed to have changed as if he had changed a person, and everything was handled in an orderly manner, but Steward Xu didn't think that Zhou Chong really had any means to make a living.

Although Steward Xu still doubted Zhou Chong's ability, but now that Zhou Chong was the head of the family, the responsibility of supporting the family naturally fell on him, so Steward Xu sighed and turned around and left the back garden.

After Steward Xu left, Zhou Zhong did not stay in the garden, but returned to his room, and then lay on the simple bed and thought about his thoughts. Originally, Zhou Zhong slept on a carved wooden bed, but later he sold it in order to repay his debts, and there were some books and antiques in the room, etc., which were also not left, and now the bed he slept on was moved from the next room, and there was no other furniture in the house except for this bed, which looked like a bit of a homeless wall.

The money to repay the debt has been prepared, which makes Zhou Chong feel a kind of relief that he has never felt before, this feeling is as if he has paid off the house payment in his previous life, the old saying 'no debt is light', this sentence is now the best way to describe Zhou Chong's current feeling.

However, after the relaxation, Zhou Chong thought of the headache of making money to support his family, he thought about all the resources around him, and found that he now has a big mansion, as well as Aunt Wang and Steward Xu, who are old and weak, and as a descendant, he has countless advanced knowledge in his head, although Zhou Chong is not very sure, but he feels that this knowledge should be regarded as his biggest reliance, and whether he can live a good life in the future depends on whether he can apply the knowledge in his head reasonably.

Speaking of the knowledge in his head, Zhou Zhong also had a very unexpected discovery, that is, since he traveled to Daming, he found that the memories of his previous life were like a detailed and huge movie, everyone he knew in his previous life; Everything that goes through; Even every book I have read can be recorded in great detail in this movie.

Sometimes Zhou Chong is also wondering, is it the original Zhou Chong who absorbed the memories of his previous life, or the memories of his previous life encroached on Zhou Chong's thinking? This is a very serious philosophical question, Zhou Zhong feels that with his own IQ, I am afraid that he will not be able to figure it out for the rest of his life, so he simply no longer thinks about it, he is Zhou Chong, Zhou Zhong is himself, why do you care so much?

The knowledge of the previous life is undoubtedly a huge treasure for the current Zhou Chong, not to mention anything else, just make a few new inventions in the later life, which should be enough for their family of five to eat and drink. This made Zhou Chong also refreshed, and began to go through the previous memories in his mind to see if there was anything that could make a profit for himself, and the result really made him think of a few things, such as soap, toothbrush, monosodium glutamate, and the like.

But Zhou Zhong was soon deflated and found that although the things he thought of were very good, they could not be realized due to various restrictions, such as the condiment of monosodium glutamate, he only knew that this thing was fermented by microorganisms in his previous life, but as for what kind of fungus, what conditions are needed? I simply don't know anything, let alone make it.

In contrast, the technical content of toothbrushes is much lower, and the manufacturing cost is not high, for example, the toothbrush handle can be replaced with bone or bamboo, and the hair can be replaced with pig sideburns, which is not very complicated to make, but to form a scale, it requires a lot of manpower and raw materials, and it is impossible to achieve it in the situation that he can't even eat now.

In addition, even if the toothbrush is manufactured, the market is also a big problem, after all, the people of the Ming Dynasty are used to brushing their teeth with their fingers or willow branches, and those with good conditions are at most dipped in tooth powder or green salt

As for soap compared with the previous two, it is a more practical method, and Zhou Zhong also knows the method of making soap in the laboratory of Ludao, although it will be difficult for this method to form large-scale production, but with the appearance and function of soap, even a small amount of production can be exchanged for a lot of income, but unfortunately soap is the same as toothbrushes, it also requires a lot of investment, at least all kinds of raw materials have to spend money to buy, and money is what he lacks the most now.

In addition to the above items, Zhou Zhong also thought of some other things, but unfortunately they were all subject to one condition or another, at least it was impossible to bring a wealth to support his family in a short period of time. Thinking that there was a big treasure trove in his mind, but he could not realize it due to various conditions of reality, which made Zhou Chong a little frustrated, but in order to keep the whole family from starving, Zhou Chong could only beat his spirit, and thought about all the things around him that could be used, and finally let him come up with a feasible solution.

This method has nothing to do with the knowledge he brought in his previous life, the most important thing is the big mansion of the Zhou family, although this mansion has already been mortgaged to Zhou Chong's quasi-father-in-law, Master Wang, but the other party does not know whether it is for face or for any reason, he has always claimed that he will not take back this mansion, so nominally speaking, this mansion still belongs to Zhou Chong.

Since this big mansion belongs to him, then Zhou Chong has also found a way to make money, that is, to divide the house into several courtyards, and then rent them out, anyway, Zhou Mansion is such a big place, Zhou Zhong and Aunt Wang can't live at all, and now there are no servants and maids to take care of it, if you don't live in it, I'm afraid the entire mansion will be dilapidated. What's more, there is almost no cost to rent a house, and you can collect rent in advance, which is the most important point of Zhouzhong.

Thinking of this, Zhou Chong jumped up from the bed all of a sudden, put on his clothes and ran to a courtyard in front of him, this is Steward Xu's residence, Steward Xu knows the situation of Zhou's Mansion best, Zhou Chong wants to rent out the house, so he naturally has to ask his opinion first.

Steward Xu was highly respected in the Zhou Mansion, and he used to enjoy high treatment, for example, he didn't have to live with those subordinates, but lived alone in a courtyard. Zhou Chong didn't knock on the door when he came in, and walked directly to the house where Steward Xu lived.

However, when he entered the room, Zhou Zhong found that the whole room was in a mess, several large boxes fell to the ground, the clothes inside were scattered all over the ground, and there was a big red pants on the open lid of the box, and the breeze blew through the ripples with coquettishness. As for Steward Xu, he was only wearing a single coat, the fat on his whole body was bulging, and he was rummaging through the cabinets to find something, because he was fat and his movements were not very dexterous, and his body was already sweating, looking like he was taking a sauna.

"Steward Xu, what are you doing here, don't you want to leave the Zhou Mansion too?" Zhou Chong saw this situation in the house, and said happily, this fat old man doesn't look old, but his appetite is amazing, Zhou Chong and Aunt Wang's food together, at most it is the same as the fat old man, if the other party is willing to leave Zhou's mansion, Zhou Chong's burden will be much lighter all of a sudden.

Steward Xu, who was rummaging through things, heard someone behind him, hurriedly turned around, and was relieved when he saw that it was Zhou Chong, and then wiped the sweat on his face and panted and said: "Young master, the old slave has long said that he is a person from the Zhou Mansion in life and a ghost in the Zhou Mansion in death, how can he leave you at such a time?" ”

"And what are you?" Zhou Zhong pointed to the boxes and cabinets on the ground, the clothes and quilts inside were a mess, no matter how you looked at it, it looked like she was about to pack up and leave.

Seeing Zhou Chong's misunderstanding, Steward Xu hurriedly explained: "Young master, you are too careful, the old slave saw this situation at home, and wanted to find something valuable to take to the pawnshop, at least exchange some money enough for us to survive this winter, you look at this padded jacket, this is what the old man rewarded me, the slippery silk surface outside, the cotton inside is also thick, I am not willing to wear it, and there are some silk clothes, I should be able to exchange some money when I get it to the pawnshop." ”

In order to leave an ironclad country for his children and grandchildren, Zhu Yuanzhang, the Taizu of the Ming Dynasty, made detailed regulations on all aspects of the Ming Dynasty, and even stipulated what clothes to wear in which industry, such as merchants are not allowed to wear silk, and servants and advocates cannot wear mink, etc., these regulations are unreasonable, and they are also very difficult to implement, so these regulations were only implemented for a while in the early Ming Dynasty, and later even the court itself did not care.

It is precisely because of this that among some wealthy merchants, not only merchants wear silk, but even subordinates can wear silk clothes, and with Steward Xu's status in the Zhou Mansion, it is normal to take out a silk cotton jacket, and even the big red pants next to it are silk.

Zhou Zhong took the padded jacket handed over by Steward Xu and looked at it, the surface of this padded jacket is indeed made of silk, and the workmanship is also very good, although it has been some years, but the key is to preserve it well, and it is also thick, but I am afraid that the pawnshop with a black heart will not be able to exchange a few dollars, as for the clothes made of silk fabrics, including the big red pants next to it, I am afraid that they are not as valuable as this padded jacket.

"Speaking of clothes, I remembered, there are a few big boxes in the wing room in my yard, and there are a lot of my clothes in them, Steward Xu, you will also pick some valuable ones later, and then buy some food, so you can't let the family run out of food!" Zhou Zhong also spoke at this time.

Since Steward Xu can take the big pants for this family, then he can't discourage the enthusiasm of others, but Steward Xu is not worth anything at all except for this padded jacket, so Zhou Chongcai decided to take his own clothes as well, after all, as the eldest young master of the Zhou family, his clothes must be stronger than Steward Xu.

Next, Zhou Chong finally thought of the reason why he came to Steward Xu, so he pulled the other party to sit down and hurriedly told his thoughts, but after Steward Xu heard Zhou Chong's idea of renting out the yard, his face showed a look that was not very optimistic.